Vietnam moves to become industrialised nation

President Truong Tan Sang has called on the nation as a whole to make all-out efforts to optimise opportunities and overcome difficulties in a rapidly changing world while pushing comprehensive and synchronous reform and innovation ahead to make Vietnam become an industrialised country as soon as possible.

He made the call in an article written in the context of three decades of the country’s “doi moi” (reform) process and 70 years of national foundation and preparation for the 12th National Party Congress.

The President said the 30 years of reform have been an important historical stage in national development, helping the country convert from a centrally-planned and subsidy-based economy to a socialist-oriented market one; proactively and actively integrate into the international community; and accelerate industrialisation and modernisation to build a strong Vietnam with wealthy people and a just, civilised and democratic society.

After three decades, Vietnam has built fundamental socio-economic infrastructure in the name of industrialisation and modernisation from its roots as an underdeveloped agriculture economy. The economic structure has been gradually modernised and the role of industry has been increased with good growth recorded in trade and services.

Foreign trade turnover has increased sharply and some export staples have confirmed a foothold in the global market, the President wrote, adding that the domestic economy has attracted a large volume of foreign capital investment and initially joined the global production value chain.

Rural economies and especially agriculture production have shifted from small-scale and scattered operations to commercial production in line with market demand and on the basis of promoting the advantages of tropical agriculture, he said.

The State leader noted that Vietnam has set up a number of key economic zones as well as major urban and industrial areas, which work as locomotives for local development. The number of private enterprises and business people has grown, becoming an important force to implement the country’s policy of industrialisation and modernisation, he added.

Shifts have also been seen in population and labour structures towards reducing the rural population and the number of workers in agriculture while the quality of human resources and local living standards has increasingly improved, he said.

However, Vietnam has faced a number of difficulties and challenges during the international integration process over the past 30 years, he noted, pointing to weak points in institutions and national governance, low productivity and poor competitiveness as hindering sustainable national economic development and heightening the risk of lagging behind other countries in the region.

There are also shortcomings in culture-society, education-training, science-technology, health and the environment, with increasing gaps between the rich and the poor, he said.

The State leader put emphasis on the strong changes in the world as bringing both opportunities and challenges to Vietnam’s development, noting that after the global financial crisis and economic downturn, global development faces a new turning point as global principles, standards and institutions are undergoing essential adjustments.

According to the President, new generation trade agreements with high-level commitments—which focus not only on opening the door for economic development but also other issues such as environmental protection, social equality, and human development—require swift adjustments from involved parties to adapt to the changes.

Knowledge, technology and creativity are decisive factors for the development of each country, Sang emphasised, adding that Vietnam needs to foster the application of advanced technologies; pay attention to encouraging renovation, creativity and training high-quality workforce; and actively join production networks, value chains and global knowledge systems.

The President also pointed to recent complicated changes in political and security situations in the world, which he reckoned are not favourable for economic development.

According to him, major countries are competing against each other to spread their influence while many non-traditional security issues have arisen, threatening sustainable development and posing a series of difficulties to countries, especially small ones.

Additionally, a serious shortage of development resources, particularly natural resources, increasing contradictions between economic growth and energy demand, population booms and aging populations in under-developed countries and the need for environmental protection are becoming obvious, the President wrote, adding that high risks of conflict, fierce competition and risks related to the vying for resources put developing countries under great pressure due to their weak capacity.

In the region, sovereignty violations and disputes in the East Sea are growing increasingly complicated, challenging Vietnam’s safeguarding for independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity as well as the country’s efforts to maintain a peaceful environment for national construction and development efforts.

In this context, the Communist Party of Vietnam’s 12 th Congress bears an important significance in promoting the country's "doi moi" (reform) process, national defence and efforts to maintain a peaceful and stable environment for national development towards turning the country into a modern industrialised nation.

The current era is an ideal time for Vietnam to focus on its institutions, boost socialism-oriented market economic development, comprehensively reform the national administration system and actively accelerate international integration towards speeding up national industrialisation and modernisation under the leadership of the CPV, the president urged.

He underlined that Vietnam’s industrialisation and modernisation need to be closely connected to market economic development and international integration, and that science, technology, knowledge and high-quality human resources must be considered the main driving forces of the process.

The State guides and supports the process by laws, mechanisms, policies, strategies and plans and State resources, the President said, stressing that industrialisation and modernisation is a cause of all the people and all society as a whole.

Knowledge and creativity are the decisive factors in the success of today’s industrialisation and modernisation process, he said, stressing the need to make science technology and education leading national policies and the primary motivation to develop modern forces of production and knowledge-based economy and increase the economy’s productivity, quality, efficiency and competitiveness.

He noted that it is essential to establish a national innovation system based on the promotion of creativity in every individual, business and organisation and to carry out policies to encourage businesses in technological innovation and advanced technology application.

The State leader also emphasised the importance of developing high-quality human resources, taking advantage of the “golden population structure” by ramping up training, particularly in tertiary and vocational training, promoting scientific and technological research and application and considering both market and business demands.

He proposed calling upon overseas Vietnamese and foreigners to participate in scientific and technological activities in Vietnam.

Developing a synchronous infrastructure system is urgent to addressing one of the bottlenecks in Vietnam’s industrialisation and modernisation, he stated, urging expeditious infrastructure system planning.

The President suggested maintaining investments in major and important transport projects to ensure linkages between big economic centres and trade hubs while completing and improving the national electricity grid to provide enough power for development demands, upgrading irrigational facilities and sea and river dyke systems and modernising the communications sector and the information technology system.

He stressed the need to take full advantage of opportunities brought about from international economic integration to improve the position and competitiveness of each enterprise and economic sector while actively limiting negative impacts of the process on the national economy.

Extending negotiations on and the signing of bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements should be in line with cautious and full preparations to ensure the signed agreements are implemented effectively and help Vietnam expand its exports and attract more investments and resources.

It is necessary to build a national governance system in accordance with standards of an industrialised nation, he said.

In the face of changing domestic and international situations, with a strong political will and comprehensive and synchronous reforms, Vietnam is determined to take advantage of opportunities and overcome challenges to become a modern industrialised country, he affirmed.-VNA